Transcript Successful Buying for Schools

Successful Buying for Schools
August 2012
Successful Buying for Schools
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The challenges (what’s tricky; why)
The resources (what can help)
The top five contracts we need to know
The plan (what do I do differently)
The challenges?
The challenges?
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In order for a school to function school buyers are required to be specialists
in all areas of non-pay provision…
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Photocopiers
Outsourced catering
Outsourced cleaning
Property and grounds maintenance
Transportation
Energy (Gas, NHH, HH)
Water costs
Insurance
Stationery
Library and text books
Furniture
IT (support, service, goods)
Outsourced Print
Hygiene services
Exam fees
Alarm testing
PAT testing
Paper
Ink
Food
Legal services
Waste management
Telecoms
Academic expenditure
The challenges?
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Range of specialist areas
Legislation
Unpredictability
Determining what ‘value’ means
Valuing our own time
Feeling like a ‘small player’
Only part of our role
What is public procurement?
Effective procurement can help reduce costs and mitigate the risks of contracting with
suppliers.
When spending public funds its important to consider how we advertise our
requirements and how we can ensure that we offer suitable suppliers the chance to
tender for our requirements.
The three key principles
•Fair
•Open
•Transparent
Legislation
The majority of school funding comes from government, therefore schools are required
to procure goods and services in line with European legislation.
What does this mean?
If a school wants to purchase a service and the estimated contract value is over £173k
for the majority of cases OJEU regulations will apply and for tenders under this limit
quotes or formal competitions should be run.
What’s OJEU?
OJEU is the Official Journal of the European Union, a place where all contracts over
certain thresholds should be published to encourage cross boarder trade between
European countries.
Due to statutory process it will take a minimum of 4 months to run a compliant OJEU
tender, considering the time frame and the risks of running compliant OJEUs in
practice this is extremely difficult for schools to undertake.
Is there another way to run compliant tendering, get great value and speed up
this process?
• Free tool that school buyers use to obtain quotes from supplies
• Through competing our requirements we drive down the cost of the
commodity from our school supply base
• The system is fully auditable, print off the evidence of competition when
you need it
• Great for saving time, most suppliers respond to your request within an
hour
Interactive whiteboard
Find it at
www.tesbuywire.com
Buying Organisations
(PSBOS)
Buying Organisations
(PSBOS)
What contracts can Pro 5 help
me with?
Waste
Management
Catering
hardware
Energy
Outsourced
Catering
Photocopiers
PAT Testing
IT Services
Food
IT
commodities
Why use PSBOs?
•Use the aggregated demand of other government departments
•Fully compliant with European law
•Easy and quick to call off
•Central place for school purchasing requirements
•Strong customer facing terms and conditions
What is a framework?
Complete OJEU
for framework
Government
agency
Aggregate Purchasing demand
Schools
Police
Fire
service
NHS
Prison
Example of PSBO contract
Find it at
www.pro5.org
www.tesfoundation.com
Guidance and documentation
In TES Foundation
• Over 50 resources directly related to school purchasing including;
• Energy
• Outsourced catering
• MFDs
• Grounds maintenance
• Templates of procurement documents including;
• Terms and conditions
• Invitations to tender
• Terminations notices
• Hints and tips when you need them
Example of Guidance documentation
provided by TES Foundation
Broadband
Managed Print services
Kitchen – heavy equipment
What is it?
What is it?
What is it?
The supply of communication infrastructure to your school and support services.
A Managed print services is an outsource service that includes the supply, installation and
maintenance of print devices such as printers, photocopiers and multifunction devices.
The distribution, supply and often installation of catering equipment from commercial toasters
through to ware wash units.
What does it include?
Top Tips
What does it include?
A core broadband service includes the infrastructure and communication service so your school can
access the internet; additional services are often supplied in addition to the above these include;
 VLE service (Virtual learning platform)
 Virus protection
 Remote working tools
 VOIP (voice over IP) telephone
What to watch out for
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When considering a switch in supply its important to get a supplier to visit your site to
undertake a bandwidth speed test, this will show you the actual speed of connection your
currently able to achieve at your school, this isn’t always the advertised speed your supplier
bills you for.
Be aware that most broadband contracts have a 3 month notice period, try to factor this in
when producing an activity timetable for your procurement.
Employ new technology to drive down costs, the introduction of FTTC (fibre to the cabinet)
which is often referred as superfast broadband may be available at your school, this replaces
expensive lease line technology and could be instrumental in significantly reducing your
costs, for more information see Annex A below.
Keep an eye on your schools broadband funding and be prepared to switch suppliers, grants
and subsidy’s for broadband have been withdrawn by Government to fund the introduction
of superfast broadband, some school forums are stepping in and funding your broadband
service however this is not sustainable in the long term and the full cost of the provision will
in the future most probably need to be paid by your school (if not already)
A managed print service should include the following services as part of your contract or supplier
submissions.
The purchase or lease of the required units
All associated peripheral hardware such as finishing units or additional trays
Additional technology to aid print efficiency such as smart cards and budget allocation software
All the required toner parts
Scheduled maintenance of the units
All parts and labour should the units break down
Staples and other consumables (excluding paper)
How is it charged?
When you contract for a managed print service there are two types of charges;
1. The purchase or operating lease of the units and associated additional equipment / software
2. The maintenance change which is typically calculated at a cost per page for colour and mono
prints billed in arrears based on the actual usage of your units.
What to watch out for
When asking suppliers to tender for a managed print service it’s important to watch out and
consider the following;
Annex A
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You may already know the Harnessing Technology grant that was used to fund school broadband
provision will no longer be available in the 2012/13 budgets. Some School Forums are picking up this
funding gap and finding the required funds locally which is great news.
For those schools that don’t have a broadband subsidy it’s likely your costs will increase or have
already done so. You may want to consider looking at alternative suppliers in the market or use new
technology that may be available to help reduce costs.
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New technology gives schools options
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You may have seen the introduction of superfast broadband services, this is called FTTC (Fibre to the
Cabinet) which is essentially an upgrade to the telephone exchange that supports the transmission
of data to your school. The upgrades are being rolled out in phases and should be completed by
2015.
It’s easy to find out if your local exchange has had the upgrade, click here and then enter your
postcode in the search box, select your area and look carefully for the ‘FTTC status’ if it’s green or
amber there’s a very good chance your costs for broadband can be reduced.
This means that school buyers now have viable options when considering broadband services.
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Although different machines carry varying maintenance charges, an indication of value
would be 4.5 pence per sheet for colour and 0.45 pence per sheet for mono (for either A4 or
A3)
Question your submissions if the agreement includes ‘developer clicks’ this is a way to
calculate the maintenance charge but rather than the charge being equal to a print, it
calculates using a ‘click’ per toner used which could increase your maintenance charges
significantly
Try to avoid ‘total volume’ contracts as these typically provide poor value especially if the
agreement is funded by a lease, to determine if the agreement is volume based; the supplier
would allocate a certain amount of prints ‘included’ in the agreement to use per month or
quarter.
Avoid ‘roll over’ leases, once in contract try to avoid at all costs the same or different
suppliers taking your lease liability for existing machines and rolling them into a new
agreement. This will result in excessive charges for your service and is extremely difficult to
remedy.
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Manufacturers such as Falcon, Meiko and Hobart offer substantial discounts for Government
and school requirements, when your school needs to purchase heavy kitchen equipment try
to make sure you use government contracts which entitle you to discounts, some in excess
of 60% down from list price.
If you ask your outsourced catering supplier to quote for any equipment try to get
alternative quotes as you may be able to achieve a better price through competition.
If your school has an outsourced catering contract you will still be responsible for the
condition and safety of the units.
How can I easily compete suppliers?
TES Foundation help schools to drive efficiencies in all areas of non-pay expenditure. Buywire, part
of the TES Foundation family is an online quoting tool reserved exclusively for schools. You can use
Buywire to obtain quotes from competing suppliers to help drive costs down while retaining the
quality you expect. The tool also allows you to connect with other school buyers ask questions and
obtain advice directly from your school community. The tool is completely free for school buyers to
use, visit www.tesbuywire.com for further information.
Where can I get further Information?
Purchasing catering equipment is common in Government departments. There are organisations
that hold frameworks that you can easily use to leverage the expenditure of other Government
bodies for your own requirement’s, these contracts also ensure full compliance with European
procurement regulations and have good customer facing terms and conditions.
Click the link below to be directed to the catering equipment framework procured on your behalf by
Pro5
http://www.espodealingdirect.org/show-contract.aspx?id=64967
It’s important to note that other Government frameworks exist for this provision and the above are
examples of what you could utilise. For further information on the pro 5 please visit www.pro5.org
Who are Pro 5?
The Pro 5 are a group of government funded purchasing organisations dedicated to local authority
procurement and include the regional agencies below;
ESPO – Eastern Shire Purchasing Organisation
YPO – Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation
WMS – West Mercia Supplies
CBC – Central Buying consortium
NEPO – North Eastern Purchasing Organisation
For more information please click here http://www.pro5.org/en/text/welcome
Broadband
Harnessing technology grant
The harnessing technology grant provided to schools by central government is now no
longer available, this subsidy has been re-routed to help fund the introduction of superfast
broadband infrastructure (FTTC)
Funding
Some schools forums are picking up this funding gap, however some are not and this
funding model isn't sustainable in the long term.
Costs
Schools are now or will soon be picking up the entire cost of broadband and related services
such as VLE, VOIP, remote working and virus software. This cost could see schools paying
up to £15k for a primary or £45k for a secondary per year.
What’s the alternative?
As the role out of FTTC takes place at your local telephone exchange you can use this to
help drive down costs, and in some cases receive a faster service.
How long does it take?
Allow 3 months to terminate and arrange your new contract
What’s the saving?
Around 50% if your schools forum don’t currently subsidise your broadband provision
MFDs (Photocopiers)
Buying photocopiers can often be a complicated matter. There are lots of different
machines to choose from and a lot of ways to fund them. After you’ve waded
through all the options and signed the paperwork it can be hard to know if you’ve
really got a good deal.
What’s the difference between a finance and operating lease?
What’s a rollover agreement?
What’s a total volume contract?
Cost per click benchmark on maintenance agreement
Developer click and overcharges
What should be included in the maintenance agreement?
Preventative maintenance
Re-active maintenance (all parts and labour)
All toner delivered to your school
peripheral equipment such as staples
Everything but paper
MFDs (Photocopiers)
Value for money check list
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If you have a lease is it for more than 3 years?
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If you have a lease do you know if it’s an operating or finance lease?
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Have previous leases been ‘rolled up’ in to your current one?
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If you have a maintenance agreement do you pay more than 0.45 pence for a
mono print and 4.5 pence for a colour print?
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Was the photocopier ‘free’ if you bought a set amount of toner from the supplier?
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If you have a maintenance agreement do you pay for anything other than paper?
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Do you pay additional costs for other services such as remote diagnostics?
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Did your supplier take your printing budget and present a small saving i.e. by
taking the service you will save £1k a year.
Energy
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To get the best prices collect your actual usage for gas and electricity for the last
year, this is important as you will get the best deals if suppliers know your
volumes.
There’s risk of penalty if you estimate volumes and don’t hit limits (esp gas)
You may want to use a broker to help with the tendering this will save you time
but keep an eye on their changes and ask what rebate they get from the
suppliers
When going out to market make sure the suppliers install AMR meters, this will
save you money in your contract.
Outsourced catering
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Consider your requirement carefully: consult within school; eg healthy eating, food
miles, supporting local farming, meals that represent ethnic mix of your school, what
do you want to achieve?
Is in-house provision impossible? Can in-house provision generate income for the
school?
If outsourcing:
Ask at least 3 suppliers to quote for this provision, submissions will vary wildly
Try to leave around 3 months to complete the exercise (TUPE will apply to catering
staff)
Use Government framework to procure this requirement, the total contract value may
exceed OJEU limits, the terms and conditions will be customer facing.
Review the performance of the supplier at least every 3 months in a structured
meeting.
In the tender process make sure you ask for and receive a full catering budget from
the supplier so they can be managed to this
Where to go!
www.tesbuywire.com
www.pro5.org
www.tesfoundation.com
The Plan
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